Traditional Owners of the Lake Eyre Basin are working hard to protect Country and culture from the threats posed by inappropriate gas developments. Join us in Townsville to celebrate the rich and living connections between First Nations cultural heritage and nature conservation - and why both are so important. Join us to learn what makes the Channel Country so special to its Traditional Owners and the local community, and why we need to protect the great free-flowing rivers that sustain this living landscape.

After last year’s historic discovery of centuries-old rainforest swords, a stunning wet season, and the publication of groundbreaking research into the impacts of gas developments, we’ve got a lot to share!

Will you join us?

Our expert panel will include:

• Traditional Owners of the Lake Eyre Basin- George Gorringe (Mithaka), Pam Hegarty, (Koa), Lorna Bogdanek (Pitta Pitta), and Tanya Rice (Pitta Pitta) will speak about the significance of the great rivers of the Lake Eyre Basin to maintaining culture and connection- a relationship that extends over 50,000 years and their aspirations to see the waterways protected. 
• Professor Richard Kingsford (UNSW), a world-renowned  river ecologist who has conducted extensive research on the rivers of the Lake Eyre Basin which he describes as the “world’s greatest remaining free-flowing desert river system”. Professor Kingford will be sharing findings from his recent research that exposed the negative impacts of oil and gas mining on the Lake Eyre Basin’s internationally significant wetlands, featured last year on the ABC’s 7.30 Report.  
• Dr Michael Westaway (UQ), bioarchaeologist who has been working closely with the Channel Country’s Mithaka people to unearth globally significant cultural sites including some of the world’s largest stone arrangements and earliest human histories of sophisticated networks of trade and economies.
• Dalene Wray AM, Managing Director of OBE Organic - Australia’s oldest supplier of organic beef produced sustainably in the Lake Eyre Basin’s Channel Country, where cattle are free to roam and choose their own diet, resulting in the very best grassfed organic beef and a product which is in-demand from all over the world.

Come along to be a part of the story as we approach a pivotal moment to protect the Channel Country’s rich natural and living cultural heritage.  

After the panel you're invited to join us for refreshments generously provided by the JCU Indigenous Education and Research Centre. If you have any special dietary requirements, please email Tracey at [email protected].